Thanksgiving for Nothing

November 20, 2017

Inside this Edition

Year end Contributions and Remittance

Terms of Call Calculation

Martin Luther King Jr. Worship & Lunch

Watch Now: Rev. Alonzo Johnson, PC(USA)'s SDOP Coordinator, at 877th Gathering

Watch Now: Recognition of Service for William Nickels III, Assoc. General Presbyter

Presbyterian Church of Hagerstown celebrates 200 years of Ministry

Covenant Presbyterian Church Dedicates New Facilities

Dickey Memorial PC seeks a Music Director/Organist

Insurance Board: Steward Newsletter

Meetings

Committee and Commission meetings will be held at the Presbytery's office (unless noted otherwise.)

Steering Committee will meet at 1pm on Wednesday, Nov. 22

Administration Committee will meet at 1pm on Tuesday, Nov. 28

Commission on Reconciliation will meet at 6:30pm on Wednesday, Nov. 29

The Presbytery of Baltimore's office will be closed

Nov. 23-

24 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

2017 Our Shared Ministry

Pledges & Contributions

Total rcv'd to date:
$137, 532

2017 OSM Goal: $225,000

KEY: * Pledged (fulfilled)

** Pledged (unfulfilled)

+ Contribution (not pledged)

*Ark & Dove

+Ashland

*Barrelville

+Bethel

+Brown Mem'l Pk.

+Catonsville

*Central

**Cherry Hill

+Christ Mem'l

+Christ Our Anchor

+Christ Our King

+Churchville

**Covenant

+Dickey Memorial

+Faith

+1st, Annapolis

**1st, Bel Air

*1st, Cumberland

+ 1st, Howard Co.

* Franklinville

**Frederick

*Good Shepherd

+Grove

+Hagerstown

+Hancock

+Harundale

**Highland

+Hope

+Hunting Ridge

+Kenwood

**Maryland

+Mount Hebron

+ Mount Paran

**Prince of Peace *Springfield

**St. John United

+Towson

+Woods

Praise & Prayer

A Thanksgiving Prayer

by "Dear Abby" Columnist

O Heavenly Father:

We thank Thee for food and remember the hungry.

We thank Thee for health and remember the sick.

We thank Thee for friends and remember the friendless.

We thank Thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.

May these remembrances stir us to service. That Thy gifts to us may be used for others.

Amen.

********

During this season of thanks, we offer prayers for those who are in the midst of life struggles, among them: Wanda Morgan, the Presbytery's Director of Events & Services, who is recuperating at home following back surgery; CRE Leonard Hornick, pastor of Hughes Memorial Presbyterian Church, who is scheduled for bypass surgery; and, TE Todd Smith, pastor of Bethel Presbyterian Church, whose wife is undergoing treatment for an aneurysm.

Thanks for Nothing

A Thankgiving story of a different kind . . .

by The Rev. Dr. W.T. Schoener

On a cold and drizzly day in November in 1944 a twelve-year-old girl sat on a bench on a train platform in Nazi occupied Holland. On her lap her schoolbooks and a lunch box that contained three uneaten sandwiches cut into four wedges each. She was waiting for the commuter train that would take her back to her home. As she waited, another train came steaming into the station from the other direction. The locomotive was flying two Nazi flags on the front of the steam engine and behind it was pulled a passenger car and a string of boxcars. As it hissed to a stop soldiers jumped out of the passenger car and lined up along the boxcars, which were then unlocked, and almost in slow motion many men came tumbling out of those boxcars onto the train platform. They were gaunt, not dressed for the November weather. Their heads had been shaved.

The girl, looking down the line of men, recognized one of them as Mr. Lundt, the tailor from her hometown. She couldn't take her eyes off him. He looked so different with his head shaved. The soldiers shouted and the men turned and began to shuffle in line along the train platform in her direction. She wanted to say something, she wanted to do something, she could think of nothing. Then, as the men passed her, she opened her lunch box and held it out to them. Her eyes were still on Mr. Lundt who was a long way down the column of men. The passing men reached in and took a wedge of sandwich and tucked it into their sleeve or their pocket or crammed it into their mouths. So few sandwiches and so many men! The wedges of sandwiches were all gone long before Mr. Lundt got to her. As he approached the girl's eyes filled with tears, she wanted to say something apologetically to him. She didn't know what to say but as he came past, without turning his head, he shifted his eyes toward her and whispered, "Thank you, thank you, thank you".

At home, but shaken by the vision of those men who simply disappeared off into the drizzle --- the walking dead --- she told her mother the story: "Oh Momma, Mr. Lundt didn't even get a sandwich and he was the one who said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" to me. Her mother thought about it for a while and then said to her, "You know mein liebes kind, it may have been that Mr. Lundt had prayed to God that there would be a sign that evil was not in charge of the entire world, that goodness had not been pushed out entirely. And as he prayed for a sign, your giving sandwiches to the men ahead of him was the sign that he needed. He may not have even been thanking you. He might have been thanking God. Do you understand dear?"

Do we understand? There are those few --- those spiritually sensitive few --- who mine down to the deep, to the core. Ones who do not need to receive the gift or the blessing themselves but can notice others receiving some gift and take it as a sign that God has not forsaken this world but stands in the shadows keeping watch over his own. So, the mother told her daughter that though Mr. Lundt didn't receive a crumb of the sandwiches, just in seeing that someone cared for this company of miserable ones enough to give a few of them a bite to eat, that was enough to cause him to mutter "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Few of us will see our way through life without troubles, heartache, affliction, or loss of some kind. When those things come upon you keep alert for God-sightings, even when they happen to others, not to you. Note them as evidence that the One who never slumbers nor sleeps has not abandoned his creation nor his creatures --- has not left the world to the dark forces, but is still moving purposefully in this world with blessings in his hand.

And our response is, "Thank you, thank you, thank you !"

taff Directory

Take Note/Act Now

Presbytery and Churchwide

All church contributions are due Thursday, January 11, 2018 at the close of the business day. Please mark your contributions with the year to which you would like them applied. All expense requests for 2017 must be received at close of day by the Presbytery or postmarked no later than Tuesday, January 3, 2018. There will be no exceptions!

Take Note: Board of Pension dues on Terms of Call form should be calculated at 37% of the effective salary.

Save the Date: "Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Worship Service and Lunch will beheld 11am on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018 at Knox Presbyterian Church. All are welcome.

WATCH NOW!

The Presbytery of Baltimore held its 877th Gathering entitled "Race, Class & Poverty: Lives Touched" on Saturday, Nov. 11 at Harundale Presbyterian Church in Glen Burnie, MD. The sermon, "Have You Seen Me?" was delivered by The Rev. Alonzo Johnson, Coordinator for PC(USA)'s Self-Development of People program.

(Click the arrow to view sermon)

WATCH NOW!

Rev. William Nickels III, Associate General Presbyter, is recognized for his service to the Presbytery of Baltimore during its 877th Gathering on Nov. 11 at Harundale Presbyterian Church. Rev. Nickels' service concludes this year.

(Click the arrow to view)

Churches

Congratulations to the congregation of The Presbyterian Church of Hagerstown, which celebrated 200 years of ministry during a special worship service and reception Saturday for members of the church and community. The service, themed "O God, Our Help in Ages Past," featured organist Joy Ross playing "The Drama of the Resurrection" on the church's historic Moller Organ.

Congratulations, as well, to Covenant Presbyterian Church of Hagerstown, which dedicated enhancements to its church building which will provide greater access for those who are disabled.

Dickey Memorial Presbyterian Church is hiring a Community Music Director/Organist ! This new position will work with both the church and community on all things musical, and it offers the opportunity for creative growth. It is a quarter-time position (10 hrs/week onsite). Click Music at Dickey to learn more about this position.

Other

The Presbyterian Foundation offers a number of church-wide stewardship and giving campaigns resources that may be of benefit to your congregation . For further information, email the Foundation's regional representative Olanda Carr at [email protected] or call 888.711.1318 .

See what's in the STEWARD NEWSLETTER FALL 2017: